What should you do if you were injured on vacation? No one wants to be injured while traveling, but many people face this reality. If it happens to you, it’s important to get prompt medical help to protect your health and to get legal help right away to understand the law and preserve your claim.
Chopra & Nocerino is a personal injury firm serving the five boroughs of New York. We are Real New Yorkers, and we fight for you if you are hurt while traveling. If you need a New York personal injury lawyer to help you recover the compensation you deserve after you get hurt while traveling, give us a call at (855) NYC-HURT or contact us online today to schedule a free consultation.
- If you were hurt on vacation, get prompt medical help to protect your health.
- Report the accident before you leave to ensure there’s a record of the incident.
- Preserve evidence while you’re at the vacation location, so it isn’t lost when you leave.
- Keep a careful record of your costs to support your claim for compensation.
- Work with an attorney who understands the local laws where your accident happened.
Get Medical Care and Protect Your Health First
It’s very important to get medical care right away when you’re injured on vacation. Early medical care can detect hidden injuries, such as internal bleeding, helping you reduce long-term damage to your health.
Getting prompt medical care also creates a record of the fact that your injuries were accident-related. This can help strengthen your case. You can show that the accident was the direct cause of the injury.
Finally, documenting your injuries right away can help you show the extent of your injuries and maximize your compensation.
Report the Accident Before You Leave
You want a record of the incident to support your claim, so reporting it is important. Sometimes, this means reporting the incident to local police. However, there may also be others you need to report to. For example, if the injury happened at a hotel or amusement park, it should be reported to the manager, local security, or tour operator.
The more documentation you have of what happened, where, and when, the easier it will be later to prove how the injury happened.
Preserve Evidence While You Are Still at the Vacation Location
Evidence can be lost quickly once you leave an area, and especially if you leave the state. That’s why preserving evidence right away is so important for holiday accident claims.
You should take photos of the scene, gather witness contact details, and call the police to document it when possible. If there is security camera footage, you should call an attorney ASAP to help ensure it is preserved. Video is often recorded quickly, and you want this clear proof of how your injury happened.
The more physical evidence you have, the easier it is for accident reconstruction specialists to create a coherent narrative about what happened. The evidence helps show your account of events is correct, so you can pursue a claim against those who were to blame for harming you.
Keep Detailed Records of Every Cost and Symptom
Detailed records can help you prove not just how the injury happened but also the extent of your damages. You should keep things like:
- Medical bills
- Prescription receipts
- Documentation of time missed from work
- Receipts for transportation to doctors’ offices
- A journal of your symptoms
All of this can help you prove the actual costs you incurred, such as missed wages or medical bills. It can also help you show how the injury impacted your life, so you can maximize non-economic damages for pain and suffering.
Do Not Talk to Insurers Until You Talk to an Attorney
Holiday injury claims can be stressful because you may feel time pressure to resolve claims quickly, since you are leaving the area.
Hotels, cruise lines, and tour operators may use this fact as an excuse to pressure you into accepting a settlement quickly. Unfortunately, these settlement offers may be well below the amount your claim is worth, especially if you don’t yet know the full extent of your injury.
You should not talk to an insurer or agree to anything until you have a personal injury lawyer to help protect your case. Your attorney can help you understand what your case is worth, review any papers you are asked to sign, and ensure you don’t make a recorded statement that jeopardizes your claim.
Who May Be Responsible for a Vacation Injury?
Many different parties could potentially be responsible for injuries on vacation. In fact, any person or company whose negligence or wrongdoing contributed to your injury could be liable for your losses.
Here are some of the most common parties that could be held responsible.
Hotel, Resort, and Vacation Rental Injuries
Hotels, resorts, and vacation rental owners have a duty to maintain reasonably safe premises for guests.
They could potentially be held liable if unsafe conditions like wet floors, broken stairs, poor lighting, inadequate security, unsafe balconies, or dangerous swimming pools cause injuries like slip and falls.
If the property owner knew or should have known about hazardous conditions and failed to fix the problem or warn guests, they may be responsible for resulting damages.
Rental Cars, Boats, and Excursion Accidents
Vacationers can suffer serious injuries in incidents like car crashes, boating accidents, ATV or zipline accidents, scuba diving incidents, and other recreational activities.
Depending on the circumstances, the rental company, tour operator, another negligent driver, or the manufacturer of defective equipment could be liable if something goes wrong. This is sometimes true even if you sign a waiver of liability.
These parties could be held liable if negligent maintenance, defective equipment, inadequate safety instructions, or careless operation cause an accident.
Tourist Attractions, Restaurants, and Public Spaces
Theme parks, museums, restaurants, and other public spaces generally must be maintained appropriately to keep visitors reasonably safe.
Owners and operators of these facilities may be held responsible for injuries caused by hazards such as slippery floors, falling objects, poorly maintained walkways, defective rides, contaminated food, or negligent security.
Problems in these spaces can result in traumatic brain injuries, fractures, burns, food poisoning, or other injuries caused by criminal acts that could have been prevented if reasonable precautions had been taken. Those who own these public areas could be liable for resulting injuries under premises liability laws or other tort laws.
Which State’s Laws Apply to Your Injury Claim?
If you were injured while traveling, New York law may not control every part of your case. The law that applies can depend on where the injury happened, where the responsible parties are located, the type of accident involved, and whether any contracts, tickets, waivers, or insurance policies apply.
For example, New York’s statute of limitations generally gives injured people three years to file most personal injury lawsuits under CPLR 214. However, if your injury happened outside New York, a different deadline may apply. Under New York’s borrowing statute, some out-of-state claims must be timely under both New York law and the law of the place where the claim arose, although important exceptions may apply, including for certain claims involving New York residents.
Some vacation-related injury claims may involve even shorter deadlines. Cruise ship injury claims, for example, may include notice requirements and filing deadlines in the passenger ticket. Claims involving government property, public transportation, hotels, resorts, rental vehicles, or tour operators may also be subject to special rules.
Because these issues can be complicated, waiting too long can put your claim at risk. A New York personal injury attorney can review where the accident happened, identify which deadlines may apply, and help you understand the next steps for protecting your right to seek compensation.
What Compensation Can You Recover After a Vacation Injury?
Depending on the specifics of your injury, your damages, and who is to blame, you may be able to recover compensation for:
- Medical expenses, including emergency treatment, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and future care
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity if your injuries prevent you from working
- Pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life
- Property damage, if any of your personal belongings were damaged in the incident
- Emergency transportation or medical evacuation costs
- Additional travel expenses, like rebooking flights or extending your stay to undergo medical treatment
- Lost travel expenses, such as prepaid hotels, tours, or excursions you could not use
- Ongoing medical care costs and continued losses after you’ve returned home
Talk to a NYC Lawyer After an Injury on Vacation
Now you can answer the question of what to do if I get injured while traveling, and it’s time to find an advocate who can help you protect your rights. Chopra & Nocerino is ready to fight for you. Our past verdicts and settlements show that we’re ready to guide you through the personal injury claims process and fight hard for you to get the money you deserve.
Just give us a call at (855) NYC-HURT or contact us online today to schedule a free case evaluation and find out how we can help.
